


Playing With Fire

by annabookchase



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: ?? - Freeform, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Fluff, PJO AU, annabeth in this au is me lol, honestly what is this, percabeth, what a loser
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-20 18:52:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11927076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annabookchase/pseuds/annabookchase
Summary: Percabeth- ‘You’ve just been saved from a burning building and you’re begging to go back in to save your pet cat’ AU





	Playing With Fire

“Please?”  
“No.”  
“Please!”  
“Nope.”  
“Pretty please?”  
“Not gonna happen.”  
She stamps her foot against the ground. “You don’t understand, I need that cat!” Tears start welling up in her eyes and she pouts with her lip. I keep my arms crossed, my expression firm. Her voice drops to a defeated mutter as her shoulders slump. “Please?” I stare at her for a solid minute. “Are you drunk?”  
She sniffles. “Maybe a little.” I stare at her awhile longer. “Okay, fine, I had a few too many glasses of wine. But you gotta understand, I have finals this week and I’m really stressed, which is why I need that stupid cat.”  
I turn to look at her dorm building that was once beautiful, with columns and everything, but is now a smoldering mess. “I just dragged your drunk ass out of that fire and you want we to go back for your cat? What’s its name, Mr. Twinkles?”  
She rolls her eyes. “His name is Ginger, for your information. I named him when I was fifteen and I’ve had him since then, so could you please go rescue him?”  
“I told you, I can’t.”  
“I’ll start crying again.”  
“Please don’t.”  
“I’ll do it!”  
“I can’t get your cat. I’m sorry.” She frowns, looking at the ground. She suddenly looks genuinely sad, and I start to feel guilty. “Hey,” I tell her, “I could always go buy you ice cream.” She snaps her head up and glares at me. “I am twenty-two years old, I do not need ice cream. I need my cat. That little furball has lasted me through high school, and almost college. He’s more faithful than my own parents.”  
I chew my lip, not sure what to say. Wait, what did she tell me? If she’s twenty-two, then…  
“Do I know you?”  
She squints her eyes, trying to see me. “I don’t know,” she says. “Why?”  
“I’m just curious,” I say, shrugging. “We’re both twenty-two and go to this school, so I figured we’d crossed paths or something. Forget it.”  
She shrugs, too, then her eyes widen. “Wait, Percy?”  
“Yeah, that’s me. Do we know each other?”  
“Yeah, oh my God! I thought you were lying when you said you were a volunteer fireman on the weekends.”  
“Why the hell would I lie about that?”  
“You wouldn’t be the first,” she says, hands on her hips. “Haven’t you been lied to?”  
“I guess I have.” I shrug again. “Hey, wait, how did you know I’m a volunteer fireman?”  
“Well, you’re standing right in front of me.”  
It’s my turn to roll my eyes. “No, I mean how did you know before? I’ve only told, like, two people.”  
“Okay, then who are those two people?”  
“My friend, Grover, and a friend from my Physics class…”  
She raises her eyebrows. “So?”  
“So… Annabeth?”  
“Wow, you figured it out!”  
“Be nice, it’s four in the morning.”  
“I know it is, I’ve been up all night studying with my cat, who might be dead by now.”  
“Look, I’m really sorry about your cat. It’s possible he got himself out, though.”  
Her glare softens. “I really hope so.” With the firetruck lights hitting her face, she looks like she came straight out of a movie, except the sadness in her eyes is real. “I love that cat,” she says. I notice her teeth are chattering.  
“Hey,” I say softly, “do you need a jacket or something? It’s pretty chilly out here.”  
She shrugs. “I’ll live.” When she tries to straighten her shoulders, though, she just shivers more agressively.  
“Okay, how about we get you checked by the medics and then I can take you out for hot chocolate to warm you up?”  
She looks at me suspiciously, then sighs. “That actually sounds pretty good.”

Fifteen minutes later we’re seated in a diner booth, blowing on hot chocolates to cool them off. She came out of the fire with only acute bronchitis, but sadly, no cat.  
“Thanks for taking me out here,” she says after a few sips. “And for, you know, saving my life.’  
“No problem,” I tell her. “Thanks for finally going on a date with me.”  
She raises her eyebrows, then chuckles. “Yeah, sorry about that. I just have a lot going on.”  
“I know that. I still would’ve liked to at least talk for longer.”  
She looks up and meets my eyes, chewing her bottom lip. “I am sorry, you know. I just thought you didn’t want to talk.”  
“Why did you think that?”  
“You told me you couldn’t meet on weekends because you were a ‘volunteer fireman’.”  
“I am, though.”  
She frowns. “Yeah, but… Well, the weekends are our only free times! When were we supposed to meet up?  
“We could’ve made it work.”  
She rolls her eyes. “I’ve heard that before.”  
“Well, I mean it. Besides, you blocked me before you could even find out.”  
“It’s called being on guard, Percy.”  
I stare at her. She holds my gaze. “Who the hell hurt you?”  
She snorts. “We don’t have time for that story.”  
“Annabeth, come on. I like you, and I’m not trying to hurt you. Would you at least give me a chance?”   
She crosses her arms, staying silent.  
“Please?”  
Her glare breaks a bit, a flash of a smile taking its place. “You really care, don’t you?”  
I raise an eyebrow. “That wasn’t clear?”  
“You’re adorable, Percy.”  
“Thanks. Will you give me a chance now?”  
“Will you get me my cat back?”

When we get back to the dorms, things have calmed down. As the girls from the dorm that caught fire, Annabeth’s dorm, are figuring out where to stay, the fire chief calls us firefighters to meet up by the trucks.  
“Okay,” she tells us, “you all did good tonight. I think everything’s been sorted out, and luckily, the fire was just an accident. However, I need to find these girls some temporary homes.” She turns to me. “You’re a student here, do you know any places?”  
“I think I heard them talking about another girls’ dorm that can take them. If we need it, I know of a few empty rooms on the guys’ side.”  
“Perfect,” she says, “we’ll keep that in mind. For now, start packing up the trucks, okay?”

When things are sorted and we’re getting ready to leave, I walk over to Annabeth. She’s standing with a group of girls, all surrounding something on the ground. When I get closer, I see a flash of orange.  
“Is that your cat?” Annabeth turns and looks at me, grinning. “Yes! They found it in a tree nearby while we were at the diner!”  
“Didn’t I tell you he was probably fine?”  
She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, whatever. Does this mean I have to give you a chance now?”  
I laugh. “Only if you want to. I might be dangerous, you know.” I wiggle my eyebrows  
Her eyes twinkle as she rolls them. “I think I’ll take my chances.”


End file.
